Recent technological improvements have allowed further miniaturisation of electronic components. This has allowed the implantation of devices that can replace the initial photoreception by rods and cones in patients with absence of these cells from disease. Artificial vision is also needed for independently mobile machines. Understanding the human visual system has also led to improvements of robot navigation. For instance programming robots with visual illusions improves their performance in complex environments. Seeing robots and blind patients with artificial vision are already a reality. Truly amazing inventions are just steps away. What was thought impossible ten years ago is now commonplace. What will the next ten years reveal to us? (from gresham.ac.uk)
About the Lecturer
Professor William Ayliffe is Emeritus Professor of Physic at Gresham College and a Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Lister Hospital in London. As well as being a practising clinician and teacher, he also continues to carry out clinical research into the prevention of blindness.
Visual disorders affect the way we see, and therefore would be expected to influence how we depict the world in drawings and paintings. This fascinating subject is explored using images created by artists with known defects. We examine how possible defects in the vision of artists for whom we have little information about their eyesight, might explain how they produced their individual style. How the physiology of vision is deliberately used by artists to create stunning visual effects, and how ancient artists achieved similar results by deduction will be explored.
About the Lecturer
Professor William Ayliffe is a Consultant Ophthalmologist in the NHS and at the Lister Hospital in London.
Did the eye evolve and, if so, how? Creationists and evolutionary biologists have argued over this controversy since Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859. About 830 million years ago, in the Cambrian period, an explosion of the number of species occurred, and the possession of vision was a major survival advantage. Did these diverse eyes evolve separately many different times? Recent genetic research on eyes in insects and mammals reveals that they are more closely related than suspected.
About the Lecturer
Professor William Ayliffe is a Consultant Ophthalmologist in the NHS and at the Lister Hospital in London. As well as being a practising clinician and teacher, he also continues to carry out clinical research into the prevention of blindness.
How does my dog see? Do eagles have better vision than humans? This homocentric view of vision with its associated mythology is explored in this review of survival strategies used by various animals in their environments. The way we see is predicated by what we need to see. From prawns to birds we will explore how eyes have adapted to be perfect for the tasks assigned to them. No longer can we claim that our human vision is the standard by which other animals must be judged as either inferior or superior.
About the Lecturer
Professor William Ayliffe is a Consultant Ophthalmologist in the NHS and at the Lister Hospital in London. As well as being a practising clinician and teacher, he also continues to carry out clinical research into the prevention of blindness.
